David Lee of California Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Courtney-Christie Paul and Pamela Jacobs of SCCADVASA at the End Sexual Violence Conference in Columbia SC

Last week I had the opportunity to speak at the South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault’s Annual Sexual Violence Conference in Columbia. Over hundred people gathered for two days of presentations and workshops. My opening plenary session was titled “Our mission is to end the violence” where I described why primary prevention is an essential element of the work in creating change so sexual violence will no longer take place.
By weaving together stories such as Surgeon General Koop declaring violence to be a public health issue, recognizing the need to create news (drawing from Berkeley Media Studies Group analysis of media coverage of child sexual abuse at Penn State, and Hollaback‘s development of its I’ve Got your Back campaign to engage bystanders to prevention street harassment, I see great hope in our efforts to prevent sexual violence.
Click here to see the notes from my presentations.